Thane translated my gestures. Unlike the prince, who’d practically invented my hand speak, Damir could not be bothered to learn it.

“And what of this Darkwin? He had plans to join the Stav, but lied about a melder. My son seems to think you and Baldur told the girl he would live if she came willingly.”

I doubted Lyra would see her arrival at Stonegate as willing.

Baldur cleared his throat. “My king, the woman had a knife to her throat to keep the man breathing. We had to say something. I, for one, care little if he lives. Stav do not keep secrets from their king.”

I made a grunting sound and turned my back to Baldur and his snobbery. He would kiss the king’s ass for any sort of advancement. No mistake, he’d suck Damir’s cock if asked.

Darkwin has been raised as her brother, I explained, Thane murmuring my responses as I went. In their eyes they are family. With her history, her craft left him fearing for her life.

“So you would have me forgive treachery because he means something to the girl?”

“Father,” Thane said, “I believe this man is loyal to you. He has been told lies like many regarding what happens to melders within these walls.”

Damir’s face fell. “Brutes. Ravagers. They robbed us of Fadey and now wish to rob us of our gods-given defenses.” The king spun back to the window, face flushed.

More importantly, I said even if the king was not looking at me, the woman will not be loyal if Darkwin does not live.

The king peered over his shoulder once Thane concluded the translation. “Manipulative little thing, is she?”

The sneer on the king’s face burned through my blood. I had no care for the life of Lyra Bien other than fulfilling my purpose here, so the jolt of heat wasn’t from anything protective. The cinch in my chest wasn’t for anything other than annoyance that I’d been brought into the middle of all this.

I had a duty, and I wanted to get back to it.

Still, only when Thane jabbed his knuckle against my ribs did I realize my fists had clenched at my sides.

I shook out my hands. She is frightened. Nothing more.

“Hmm. As she should be. Someone slaughtered her predecessor within my gates, and someone wants her kind dead.” Damir stroked the braids of his beard. “I want you to guard her, Ashwood.”

My fingers flicked, an instinct to state my refusal coming swiftly. It would be a horrid mistake to place me in charge of the melder.

I waited for a breath, then, My king, certainly I am needed elsewhere.

Thane glared at me when he recited my response. If I kept arguing, soon enough the prince would begin lying through his translations and insist I agreed with his father’s every word.